LeBron's reward? Time off for exemplary behavior

MIAMI — Two years ago, LeBron James headed into the darkness. No visitors. No television. No daylight. For weeks on end.

Such was the devastation of losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Now? Now he wants to be alone again. Alone to marinate in the moment, to immerse himself in the total relaxation that only trump affords.

Since the low point of that Miami Heat failure in those 2011 NBA Finals he has been Most Valuable Player of the 2012 regular season and 2012 NBA Finals, a 2012 London Olympics gold medalist, MVP of the 2013 regular season, and, now, after Thursday's second consecutive NBA championship, MVP of the 2013 Finals.

"To be able to put in the work that I've put in since I got out of the cave. . . after that Dallas series, and for it to pay off like this, it's the ultimate," he exhaled in his final 2012-13 moment in the national spotlight, Thursday's Game 7 NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs. "It makes you want to work even harder."

Just now right now. And not any time soon after Monday's championship parade down Biscayne Boulevard.

"I need to rest my body. I do," he said of his just-arrived offseason. "As much as I love working out and as much as I love getting better, at this point I think the smartest thing to do is to rest my body, give my body a break. I think that's the smartest thing.

"I've got a [September] wedding coming up with my beautiful fiancee. And it will be an unbelievable wedding now that we've won, instead of losing."

And, yes, mixed in will be contact with the game that has made him iconic.

"I probably will touch a basketball to mess around a little bit," he said. "But I don't know, I haven't set my goals yet for my offseason training. I will, but not right now. Please don't ask me about my offseason training right now."

But that doesn't mean he isn't making lists.

"I mean, I have a few goals," he said. "My goal, one of my first goals, is to continue to inspire the youth to want to play this game of basketball or to be better at whatever they do. I mean, I love kids.

"Second thing for me is to continue to lead my teammates. Every single day in practice, every single day in film sessions, I know the grass isn't always green and there's going to be trials and tribulations. But hopefully I can continue to be the leader for my teammates.

"And then, lastly, I want to be, if not the greatest, one of the greatest to ever play this game. And I will continue to work for that, and continue to put on this uniform and be the best I can be every night."

Teammates expect nothing less, but also appreciate that the challenges will never cease, the expectations only will increase.

"He'll get a lot less this summer," guard Dwyane Wade said of the piercing inspection that made that first, pre-championship Heat season and NBA Finals series so tormenting. "When the season starts up again next year, it's on again. It's the ebb and flow, the highs and low of life. He's been in a championship [series] what four times? And he's won two of them. That's a great percentage when you can make it to the Finals.

"So the story is still yet to be seen what he's going to end up with, but right now he's going to enjoy number two. Winning back to back, there's not a lot of people who have done that. He's a special player."

Two years ago, it was as if James' championship dreams died. Now, at least this summer, teammates hope, while full of infused vitality, that he is afforded the opportunity to rest in peace.

"Hopefully people will leave him alone a little more now," forward Shane Battier said. "He takes a lot of heat, I think undeservedly. He's the best player on the planet. And hopefully now with two titles, he'll get more the benefit of the doubt. But, you know, he's the best. He's the best right now."

The hardware he took home early Friday morning from AmericanAirlines Arena said as much.

"His legacy is already cemented," former-Heat-center-turned-NBA-commentator Shaquille O'Neal said. "There are only a few players who come into a new city and say, 'Guess what I'm going to do?' and then they do it."